The work of God’s Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian is crucial to both godly living and fruitful service, yet the topic is one of the most controversial and divisive among us. Our inclination to find personal identity and spiritual security in our theological position serves the intentions of our enemy better than the purposes of our God. Our judging, bickering and divisiveness over this subject is shameful, invalidating our testimony and violating the Presence of God among us.
In my younger years the Holy Spirit was referred to as “it,” and was quite distant to what it meant to be a Christian. Since the early 1970’s I have been acquainted with circles where the Holy Spirit is known in the Charismatic or Pentecostal sense. And beginning in 2000 I have been among those who come at things from the Holiness viewpoint.
In the early 1960’s Elaine and I attended some tent meetings held by the late George R. Brunk. “Brother George” was a family friend and the evangelist under whose preaching I accepted Christ in the early ‘50’s, but this time he was challenging Christians to go deeper in our walk with God.
Brother George proposed an active Holy Spirit, as part of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit was “He” not “it.” He was personal and at work in us to instruct us and convict us of sin; to apply the blood of Jesus to cleanse us; and to enable us to live Godly lives and serve Him effectively. It was basic Biblical teaching with no particular slant, and it was a turning point for Elaine and me.
Drawing the Lines
Many are acquainted with the “Charismatic movement” of the 1970-80’s. It was a reawakening of the Pentecostal emphasis in a certain way but was often less dogmatic about controversial gifts. Many Christians entered into a more invigorated walk with God as they opened themselves to the work of God’s Spirit in a way that was new to them.
“The Baptism” was subsequent to ones salvation experience. In Pentecostal and Charismatic circles it is seen as the time when one is endued with the power of the Holy Spirit. To varying degrees there was an emphasis on speaking in tongues as an, or the, evidence of that.
Holiness churches view The Baptism of the Holy Spirit as “a second work of grace” where one is sanctified. They will testify of the day they were saved, and a later time when they were sanctified. Taken to the extreme this sanctification is viewed as the eradication of the sin nature to the extent that one no longer sins. (And when one says they don’t, they just did!)
Houston, We Have a Problem
Here’s the problem I see. As crucial as the work of God’s Holy Spirit is, Christians rarely come at the matter in a balanced way. We typically go off on one counterproductive tangent or another.
Pentecostals and Charismatics profess to be endued with power but show little evidence of that in actual life and service. They find it easier to rest in the evidence of tongues and maybe prophecy, than to be empowered by God to win others to Him in their city and to the ends of the earth.
In Africa, Elaine and I concurrently served a very Pentecostal denomination, and a mission that was on the opposite end of the spectrum, and one could make little actual distinction between them in terms of power. And trust me on this - - Holiness people are no more sanctified than other Christians.
Some of the most effective servants of God I have ever met were outside of the Pentecostal-Charismatic camp, and some of the godliest people I have known would reject the distinct Holiness doctrine. If it’s not one’s theology that makes us powerful in ministry or holy in living, then what is it?
What Is It?
Our big clue comes from Acts 4:13; When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Ooooh yes!! - - they had been with Jesus. The richness of one’s walk and service is based on the richness or his/her relationship with Jesus. That’s almost too simple.
As is sometimes said, to be fully committed is to have surrendered all of myself that I know, to all of God that I know. As God shows me more, I surrender more. And more. And more. There are 100 works of grace. Or 1000 or 10,000. We are being transformed, as in II Cor. 3:18. It is an exhilarating pilgrimage to hunger and thirst for God and to be filled - - and filled and filled.
There are moments when God “turns the lights on” and gives us understanding about something that goes deep, and we yield ourselves to Him. We can develop a theology around that and label it “The Baptism of the Holy Spirit” in either the Pentecostal or Holiness sense, but we don’t need to call it that. I recognize the invigoration of the moment but insist that it was only one of many encounters that God intends for us in a dynamic, ongoing walk with Him. It is sooo unfortunate that these often become spiritual parking places instead of launching pads.
We receive what we believe to receive, and we can’t believe until we understand; and we can’t understand until God uncovers a truth or principle to us. It might be in our quiet time; while driving down the road; in worship; through the preaching of the Word – or wherever or however.
It is unfortunate that Holiness and Pentecostal/Charismatic preachers often misrepresent the meaning of these moments and give them a theological spin. Come to the altar and receive “it” and you will have holiness, freedom, joy, insight, power or whatever it is you need. Sorry, I’ve seen and heard it presented that way ad nauseam and it simply doesn’t work - for either camp!
If we have basically been ignorant or fearful of the person and work of the Holy Spirit, it can be a very significant moment when our eyes and hearts are opened to the truth of Who He is and what He can do in us. And it can be a life-changing event if we have confessed our sins and received Jesus Christ as Savior, but then later confess our sinfulness and surrender to Him as Lord.
Those moments are simply divine encounters in which we surrender further to the rule of God and become more of Him and less of us. However, man will do anything but surrender in our pursuit of more of God, and we are quick to embrace a theological package that enhances our sense of spirituality and gives us more security in our place before God and our fellow believers.
I understand (and for over three decades, taught) the theology that can be developed from the historical accounts of Acts 2, 8 and elsewhere. I also understand the way in which those events represent the imparting of the Holy Spirit upon Jews and Gentiles as God established His spiritual kingdom in the hearts of men in a wonderfully new way. He enabled them to experience the life that He provided through Jesus and empowered them to share it with others. It’s not very complicated.
Summing up
Here are some key points that I believe would set us free from our destructive bickering. We must:
1) Know that the work of God is accomplished by the power of God flowing through those who are filled with the Presence of God. (See “Greater Works than These” and “Rivers of Living Water.”) In order for that to happen though, we need to be emptied of self. We can’t be full of both self and Him. It’s a lifelong process of becoming more like Jesus through increasingly understanding more of God and ourselves, and surrendering more and more to Him.
2) Seek to live a holy life. Invite and allow God to do deep works in you, knowing that sometimes it will be in leaps and bounds and other times tiny steps. Never ever believe though, that in a moment you are sanctified in a way that releases you from the need to continue to seek God and to be further purified and set apart unto Him.
3) Understand that the spiritual gifts are given primarily to equip us for ministry. Don’t even desire them, if you’re not willing to take up your cross and become a disciple of Jesus, as in Mark 8:34-38. Ask God to teach you so that you are not uninformed (I Cor. 12:1), and to release in your life all that He has for you. (V11) Read Matt. 7:7-11 and know that if you are a child of God you will only receive something good.
4) Know that love is the primary evidence of “God in us.” Read I Cor. 13. As Jesus said in John 13:35, it is by our love for one another that the unsaved will know that we are His. And know that the Fruit of the Spirit, as in Gal. 5:22-23, is the expression of love. Seek that, above all else.
5) Refuse to find your spiritual identity and security in your theological distinctives. Find them in your relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and in your fellowship with other believers regardless of your agreement on these or other heretofore divisive, secondary issues.
Conclusion
Frankly, after all these years of preaching, teaching, practicing and observing, I find Bill Bright’s Transferable Concepts approach to being filled with the Spirit to be more Biblical and effective than the Holiness or Charismatic/Pentecostal hyperboles which so rarely produce the deep reaching godliness or powerful ministry that they are represented to give us. They often misrepresent the truth and actually hinder our being filled with the Spirit in an authentic, Biblical way.
Most denominations insist that “baptism” means to be “immersed into,” but on the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was “poured out upon.” If baptism truly means to be immersed, then maybe the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in Acts was symbolic of their now being immersed into Christ, as in Romans 6:3-14, so that they could live the new life that He gives, and make it known to others! Wouldn’t the controversial issues dissipate if we embraced that truth and practiced that life?
Further, study the O.T. Day of Pentecost, and the meaning it gives to the pouring out of the Holy Spirit for the establishment of the Church. Why do we fixate on the symbolisms of that day and essentially miss the significance of the connection between the two? Check it out! |
